Goldhamer, Alan C

Objective: This single-arm, pre–post interventional trial (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04515095) investigates the safety, feasibility, and potential effectiveness of prolonged water-only fasting followed by a whole-plant-food diet in the long-term management of hypertension and other cardiometabolic disorders. Methods: Safety was assessed based on adverse events (AEs) that were recorded according to Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0. Feasibility was assessed based on retention rate, ability to complete minimal fast length, and intervention acceptability. Twenty-nine participants with stage 1 and 2 hypertension and without type 2 diabetes were enrolled from a residential fasting center. Results: Study retention was 100% at the end of the refeed and 93% at the six-week follow-up visit. Median (range) fasting and refeeding duration were 11 (7–40) and 5 (3–17) days, respectively, and 90% of participants were able to complete at least 7 days of fasting. The majority of AEs were mild (grade 1) and transient and there were no higher-grade or serious AEs. At the end of the intervention, median systolic/diastolic blood pressure had normalized to below 130/80 mmHg, body weight reduced by >5%, and anti-hypertensive medication was completely discontinued. These results were sustained for at least six weeks and potentially up to one year. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the intervention may be a feasible, well-tolerated, low-risk option for lowering and managing high blood pressure, excess body weight, and other cardiometabolic disorders in people with stage 1 and 2 hypertension.

(1) Background: Chronic inflammation and insulin resistance are associated with cardiometabolic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Therapeutic water-only fasting and whole-plant-food refeeding was previously shown to improve markers of cardiometabolic risk and may be an effective preventative treatment but sustained outcomes are unknown. We conducted a single-arm, open-label, observational study with a six-week post-treatment follow-up visit to assess the effects of water-only fasting and refeeding on markers of cardiometabolic risk. (2) Methods: Patients who had voluntarily elected and were approved to complete a water-only fast were recruited from a single-center residential medical facility. The primary endpoint was to describe changes to Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) scores between the end-of-refeed visit and the six-week follow-up visit. Additionally, we report on changes in anthropometric measures, blood lipids, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and fatty liver index (FLI). Observations were made at baseline, end-of-fast (EOF), end-of-refeed (EOR), and six-week follow-up (FU). (3) Results: The study enrolled 40 overweight/obese non-diabetic participants, of which 33 completed the full study protocol. Median fasting, refeeding, and follow-up lengths were 14, 6, and 45 days, respectively. At the FU visit, body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference (AC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), hsCRP, and FLI were significantly decreased from baseline. Triglycerides (TG) and HOMA-IR scores, which had increased at EOR, returned to baseline values at the FU visit. (4) Conclusion: Water-only fasting and whole-plant-food refeeding demonstrate potential for long-term improvements in markers of cardiovascular risk including BW, BMI, AC, SBP, DBP, blood lipids, FLI, and hsCRP.